All the water used for washing must be soft, otherwise the clothes cannot be made clean. Soap, instead of dissolving and forming suds, will always curdle and float on the surface of water that is either hard from being impregnated with lime or other mineral substances, or brackish from its vicinity to the sea. The best way of softening hard water is to mix with it a large quantity of strong lye, in the proportion of one gallon of lye to three or four of water. Soda is sometimes used, but it is objectionable as it injures the texture of the clothes.

Where all the water is hard it is usual to save rain water by catching it in cisterns, or casks placed under the water spouts. Rain water casks should always have covers to prevent impurities from getting into the water. They should stand on feet and be furnished with a spigot for drawing the water when wanted. Without an abundance of water it is impossible to wash the clothes clean, or to make them a good color, and where a sufficiency can be obtained, no good washer will be sparing in the use of it. Washing in dirty suds is of very little avail.

In using soda in washing, the best method is to boil three quarters of a pound of soap and an ounce of soda in a gallon of water till they are completely dissolved, then pour the liquid out to be used at once.

The bleaching of linen or muslin is best effected by first washing the articles in cool soap suds, and laying them on the grass at night to receive the dew; repeat this process for a few days.

How To Wash A Counterpane

Rub it well with soap, and put it over night in a tub of lukewarm water. Next morning, wash it out of the water it was soaked in, then wring it out and wash it in some clean soap suds; after which wash it through a second sud warmer than the first. Rinse it twice through plenty of cold water. The last rinse water should have a little blue in it. Wring the counterpane out, hang it in the sun to dry, wrong side outward. Take it in toward evening and the next day hang it with the right side out. It must on no account be put away with the slightest dampness about it. It may take three days to dry perfectly. In washing a quilt or counterpane never use soda.

How To Wash Colored Dresses

Have ready plenty of clean, soft water. It spoils colored clothes to wash them in the dirty suds the white clothes have boen washed in. The water should be warm, but by no means hot, as that would injure the colors. Rub enough soap in the water to make a strong lather before the chintz is put into it. Wash it thoroughly; then wash it in a second clean warm suds, and rinse it well. Have ready a pan filled with weak starch, tinged with a little blue. Painted lawns or muslins will be much improved by mixing a little gum arabic water with the starch; for instance, a tablespoonful. Put the dress into it, and run it through the starch. Then squeeze it out, open it well, clap it, and hang it out immediately to dry in the shade; taking the sleeve by the cuffs and pinning them up to the skirt, so as to spread them wide, and causing them to dry the sooner. If colored clothes continue wet too long no precaution can prevent the colors from running into streaks. This will certainly happen if they are allowed to lie in the water. They must always be done as fast as possible, till the whole process is completed. If the colors are once injured, nothing can restore them; but by good management they may always be preserved; unless in coarse low priced calicoes, and many of them wash perfectly well. As soon as the dress is quite dry, take it in. It is always the best way to fold and iron it immediately. Another way of fixing the colors in a dress is to grate raw potato into the water in which the dress is washed. If dresses are to be put by for the winter season, they should always be washed and dried, but not starched nor ironed. They should be rolled up closely in a towel.